Welcome to The Taylor Law Firm. The lawyers at The Taylor Law Firm have been drafting Wills and Trusts and comprehensive estate plans for clients in Portland, Vancouver and throughout Oregon and Washington. There are many reasons to do estate planning which includes a Will and often a Trust as well as other important estate planning documents now rather than later. A good estate plan will not only let you decide who receives your assets after you die. It will also protect you and your family if you are incapacitated and unable to handle your own affairs. Your estate plan will let you -- not the courts -- make decisions about your medical care and important financial matters when you are unable to communicate for yourself.

Oregon Wills and Trust attorney Priscilla Taylor can help you create a comprehensive estate plan that will represent your wishes, while avoiding probate costs and estate taxes for your beneficiaries.

One of the basic elements of any estate plan is a revocable living trust. A trust accomplishes many estate planning goals, such as:

• Assisting families with disabled children by setting up a special needs trust
• Avoiding the cost and delay of probate
• Keeping your financial information private
• Naming a trusted person to control your assets if you are incapacitated
• Transferring assets to heirs upon your death
• Protecting a child's inheritance from courts, creditors and irresponsible spending
• Reducing or eliminating estate taxes

Ms. Taylor can also assist you with charitable remainder trusts, special needs trusts, family limited partnerships, and with business succession planning.

Oregon Estate Tax Attorney

Estate taxes are in addition to final income taxes, which must be paid on income a person receives in the year they die. In effect, it is a double tax. The deceased person has already paid income taxes on the money and assets that make up their estate. With estate taxes, the heirs and beneficiaries must pay taxes on those assets again.

Oregon estate tax lawyer Pricilla Taylor advises clients on ways to avoid probate costs and estate taxes through estate planning. She also represents heirs and benefices in estate-valuation disputes.

Federal estate taxes are based on the net value of a deceased person's estate, including homes, business interests, bank accounts, investments, capital gains, personal property, IRAs, retirement plans, and death benefits from life insurance policies. To determine the net value of your estate, debts are subtracted from total assets.

If you plan ahead and use some of the tax-reducing strategies, such as placing life insurance policies in a trust fund, you can reduce or even completely eliminate your estate taxes. An estate tax attorney can also advise married couples how they can each take advantage of the current estate tax exemption.